Among craft beer fans, Sprecher Brewing Co. might be best known for its Sprecher Amber — or perhaps its Black Bavarian.

But the Glendale-based brewer's most popular brand, by far, is one with a sweeter taste: Sprecher Root Beer.

Sprecher Brewing sells around three times as much root beer and other sodas as beer. And, while that's unusual within its industry, Sprecher isn't alone among U.S. brewers that also sell soda. The dual beer and soda makers include other smaller Wisconsin brewers, as well as Chicago-based MillerCoors LLC, which has a sideline business in root beer tucked among dozens of large brands that include Miller Lite and Coors Light.

To be sure, most of the nation's brewers, including more than 2,700 craft brewers, aren't in the soda business. And some, such as Chicago-based Goose Island Beer Co., owned by industry giant Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, have sold their soda operations to better focus on the growing thirst for craft beer.

But, for other brewers, sodas remain a lucrative venture.

At Stevens Point Brewery, sales of Point Premium Root Beer and other sodas make up about 15% of the company's sales volume, which includes its own beer brands as well as a large contract brewing business.

That 15% share has remained roughly stable even as the expanding brewery sells more beer, said Joe Martino, the company's operating partner.

And craft sodas have higher profit margins, Martino said. It takes only about two days to produce a batch of soda, compared with 21 days to brew a batch of beer, he said.

The sodas are produced in the same kettles where beer is brewed at the Stevens Point facility — in between cleanings, of course. But the sodas are actually bottled at Black Bear Bottling Group LLC's Oak Creek facility.

Stevens Point Brewery launched Point Premium Root Beer in 2002, just six months after Martino and partner Jim Wiechmann bought the business through their company, SPB LLC.

"Clearly, we saw what other craft brewers were doing with soft drinks," Martino said.

This month, Stevens Point added another soda: the Kitty Cocktail.

The new flavor is a blend of ginger ale and sweet maraschino cherries, with a splash of lemon-lime. It's similar to the drink known as the Shirley Temple, sometimes called a kiddie cocktail, named for the late child actress, Martino said.

Other brewers enjoy the fizz

Other Wisconsin brewers that have soda operations include Janesville-based Gray's Brewing Co., which sells several flavors in both the J.C. Gray and Gray's Sodas product lines. Gray's has a long history as a soda bottler, the company's main revenue producer, and only became a craft brewer in 1994.

Also, Monroe-based Minhas Craft Brewery's operations include its Blumers sodas. And Berghoff Brewery Inc., which is owned by the same family that operates Madison-based General Beverage Sales Co., sells a line of Berghoff brand sodas.

Meanwhile, the MillerCoors empire, with Milwaukee roots at Miller Brewing Co., includes the Henry Weinhard's group of craft beer and soda brands sold mainly in the Pacific Northwest.

Sprecher leads the way

The company, founded in 1985 by Randal Sprecher, doesn't disclose what share of its revenue comes from its root beer, launched in 1988, and other sodas.

But Sprecher Root Beer "is the single-biggest product that we make," said Jeff Hamilton, president. The company's other sodas include Orange Dream, Ravin' Red and Puma Kola.

Sprecher in 2014 will likely sell around 30,000 barrels of beer in 27 states, and around 100,000 barrels of its sodas in 40 states, Hamilton said. That makes Sprecher the largest maker of craft sodas among craft brewers, he said.